LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 284: Ryun
Choices
The monster leapt at him and he shaped six spikes beneath it, letting it impale itself on them. Another dashed forward from his side, but he raised a wall and had spikes grow out of it. The monster smashed into them and killed itself. He was in one of the dungeons given to him. It was a massive cavern, so large that his sense couldn’t even register the ceiling. After coming back to the capital from the Ornn gathering and getting his gear he had returned to clearing dungeons. His [Reave] was getting a lot of work, and he had been accumulating a lot of Essence. Still, his return had been slightly abrupt, after they had come to an agreement there didn’t seem to be a need for him to stay. And it was a family gathering. Nayra and Daria were still with their family, his Sect Leader had decided to stay and protect the walls. And despite Ryun’s desire to have her back in the sect, he did understand that there was a need for her here. He had allowed Daria to stay and serve by helping keep her sister safe. It wasn’t like they could help with the mission, though… Nayra had gotten very strong, her description of the battle against the enemy general was enough to make him proud. She had taken his Path of the Final End and had pushed it far, utilizing it in the ways that it was meant to be used. It was almost a shame that her main focus was Class.
He shaped steps beneath his feet as he ran through the air, moving swiftly, looking for monsters. His new skill, |Celerity| was a passive boost to his speed, all of his speed. The boost wasn’t anything impressive, but he could tell. It worked on everything, increasing his physical speed, the speed of his thoughts, even the speed of his Qi and his Essence draw in. Like all skills, the passive ones could be slightly improved by actively leveraging one’s will. The increase wasn’t anything insane, but it was there. It meant that Ryun was slightly faster than his stats would suggest. It was also only on its first evolution so far, and he was looking forward to seeing how he could develop it.
He had been testing out his new set as well. He wore the copies of the items, of course, his forge gave them extra stats and durability on top of the extra durability that his awakened item perk gave any item that he wore. Altogether, the robes were 52% more durable. He had sacrificed one of his copies during one of his earlier dungeon runs to see how much damage the robe could take before it stopped working. The answer was quite a lot, but in the end if his body was constantly damaged it couldn’t keep up, which meant that he lost the buffs that it provided. Still, he could always just replace the damaged robes with another copy from his forge, even mid battle. The rings were also a lot more impactful than he had expected. They allowed him to stay moving a lot longer. The barrier ring was good as a Qi saving tool instead of him using his shaping. He still carried his other equipment, of course, an amulet that increased wisdom and his ring that boosted regeneration, and a few others.
Fighting against horde of enemies was… easier for him in part because his stats and regeneration soared when he was in those situations. The moniker that they gave him in the core, the Undying Void, was truer than they knew. What they had seen in his fights was not the full extent of his regeneration. In the right conditions, he was a lot harder to kill.
Still, he was supposed to be training and preparing for their mission. And since the Empire had little to offer him other than resources, he was forced to simply clear dungeons. Though, he had managed to acquire a bit Void Essence, not enough for him to cycle more than once, but anything helped, and he had spent a few hours while visiting the Ornn gathering in the void.
Awhile later, there were only a few monsters left in the dungeon, and he moved around through the air, killing them with void spikes and void beams, using [Reave] when it was available. As he killed one more monster, his sense took note of something in the distance, which made him pause for a moment, but then he continued running around the cavern, hunting down and killing the rest. He spent around an hour afterward collecting all the loot, barely even looking at it. Potions and materials went into his storage, and any items were fed to Bright Star. His potion bath had given him a lot of stats, the Empire had managed to provide some benefits to him, despite not being able to help him as a Cultivator. Which left a lot of the improvement on him. He could try and improve some of his skills, though that would put him back into imbalance. He was wary of that, only because he knew what madness could be and feel like. He didn’t want to join his current tier 7 skills, he had something else in mind for that. Which only left him with practicing what he already had. Improving on that as much as he could.
With the dungeon cleared, he slowly made his way back to the entrance—on foot. The dungeon’s landscape was open, like a hedge maze made out of stone, with large open areas thrown in. There was only one ceiling, too far above for even his sense to touch. It was an underground world, the only reason he knew that it was underground was the lack of any Sunlight or Moonlight Essence. There were other types of light Essences though, mostly coming down from the ceiling far above and some from the plant life around him. Not that it mattered to him, his world didn’t have night or day, it was always filled with every color imaginable.
As he walked into the large open area in front of the entrance he came to a stop.
He had sensed when the three had entered the dungeon, overheard their conversation, he knew their plans already. A few moments passed in eerie silence, and then they moved. Ryun cycled his Qi, preparing techniques. He sensed no Qi from them, but that was to be expected here in the Empire. They would then be Classers and Skill users. His sense told him that they had high physical stats, two of them at least, but the last one wasn’t physically focused. They had to be strong, if they thought that their plan could work at least.
Three people stepped out from their hiding places behind large boulders, a winged drake, a demasi, and a kreacean. The drake wore heavy armor and held a large battle-axe in his hands, the demasi wore a black robe and had a wooden staff as tall as he was. The kreacean had four short swords in his hands, and silver armor fitted for his kind.
They were here to kill him, had planned to strike from an ambush. They hadn’t spoken much after they entered the dungeon, but from what little they had said Ryun got the sense that they had some knowledge about what he could do. He wasn’t certain just how much they knew though. He didn’t know who they were, he had never met them and he was pretty sure that he had never even been in their presence. One option was that the Empire had betrayed them, that they had sent these people to kill him. If that was true though, he did not think that they would send only three people, and he was pretty sure that he would have little chance of escaping with his life. They were in the heart of their power after all. He didn’t truly think that it was them, a Framework made oath was not something that could be broken, and he didn’t think that there was much room for interpretation in the one they gave.
He didn’t think that he had any enemies here, unless he greatly misjudged the situation with the Ornn family, but then… he doubted that he would’ve gotten what he had from them if they planned to kill him. In the end it didn’t matter who they were, only their intent.
“We are—” the drake started, but Ryun interrupted by speaking over him. He wasn’t interested in anything that they had to say. They had placed themselves in his way, that was all that mattered.
“It doesn’t matter, and I do not care,” he told met each of their eyes. “You have two choices now. One you turn around, walk out of this dungeon, and be gone by the time I follow after. Or you stay, attempt what you planned, and die.”
Ryun could not remember a time when someone had ever listened to his promises, not in this situation. It was… frustrating in a way. He went out of his way to always be clear, to speak the truth. He never bluffed, and what others considered to be threats he believed to be simple facts. So much bloodshed could be avoided if people just listened.
He could tell that they wouldn’t.
His mind thought through the situation quickly. Three people, with unknown powers who had entered an isolated area in order to kill him. With at least some knowledge of what he could do. If they knew about him clearing the dungeons, it was possible that he had been observed before without him noticing. So, at the very least they could know what he had used in the dungeons. Alternatively, they could know all that he had shown at the tournament. Agents of the Empire had been there, the Ornn Family situation made that clear.
In the moments after he spoke, he made a decision. There was no need to hold anything back.
“Kill him,” the drake said.
Ryun acted. {Void Armor} formed around him, hard plates covering his body, and his {Empowering Null Mantle} filled him, his stats pushed into his strength and dexterity. He triggered a perk, Field of a Thousand Cuts, as the kreacean flickered and disappeared. A distinct sense of skills filled Ryun’s senses as the demasi appeared next to him. Ryun stepped back even before his skill finished. With one hand he shaped a pillar on the ground growing toward the kreacean as he swung his swords. The attacker twisted, adjusting enough to evade the pillar and step forward. Ryun’s kick caught him in the chest and sent him flying back, directly into one of the spatial tears.
The air twisted and shook. One of the kreacean’s arms was ripped to shreds as he somehow managed to flicker away. Less damage than Ryun had expected, but he had felt the man’s willpower push against the cuts. Ryun pulled out a javelin from his armory and threw it at the kreacean, forcing him to block with his swords. Then, he bent his knees to jump as the drake flew high up into the air and his pointed ring at Ryun. He felt an impact from every side. His armor cracked as Ryun felt force hit him equally from every point around him, the armor held for a moment, then burst to pieces. Then there was fire. It poured all around him, forming faster than he could even react to, coming from everywhere. It spilled into his eyes, his mouth and nose, it burned his robes and his skin.
Anybody else would’ve been burned to ash in an instant. Ryun jumped regardless, ignoring the pain, his world nothing but darkness. His skin was burned away so he had no touch. His nose, mouth, eyes, and ears completely scorched, but his sense still worked. He could sense his body leaking void mist, his body moved only thanks to his crucible, but he couldn’t even imagine what he looked like at that moment. He shaped a step beneath him and triggered his Lifebringer ring, spending all his charges. Void that made up his body surged, and reformed into skin, his senses returned.
The drake blinked next to him, his axe already swinging. Ryun shaped a wall, but the axe cut right through it, cleaving him from shoulder to hip, separating his body in two. Ryun leveraged his will on his |Greater Restoration|, unleashed his Void Aura at short range, let his Reaper’s Aura and [Bringer of Sorrow] billow out. His opponents were hit by his aura and mental attacks, stunned momentarily. Ryun took advantage to switch his mantle to his vitality, burn through his Rapid Regrowth and to reconstitute his form. His Qi dropped, and he shaped pillars that smashed the drake away from him. He felt the kreacan flicker again, and Ryun pounced away, shaping steps as he gained distance. Something gouged wounds in his newly healed back, cutting through his spine. If his body was still what it was before, he would’ve been dead already, as it was, it barely slowed him down. Spikes grew around him, stabbing at his enemies in the air, giving him distance. He grimaced as he realized that he had lost half of his rings with the hand that was cut off with the other part of his body. But he still had his new one. He switched his bonus to endurance and activated his barrier, then switched again to wisdom and shaped. A fortress of walls grew around him, layer upon layer of walls. He felt fire appear and surround it, burning through the void, but he had time.
Inside he equipped another copy of his robes, let the smaller wounds heal up. Then he prepared two techniques, charging one and keeping the other at the ready as he used his |Divided Mind|. The outer walls shattered, and the enemy assault hit the barrier. It held for a moment, and then when he felt it would burst, Ryun jumped and activated a perk.
Void surged out of his body, he felt a change, he felt it grow. He transformed, taking his Evolved Form. The wolf passed through the fire, the heat and the flames passing over the body made out of the void and clashing. He escaped, straight in front of the floating kreacean waiting to attack. He saw the fear, felt the surprise and indecision as he was suddenly confronted with a wolf the size of a house. His evolved form was around five meters tall, and almost double that in length. He could imagine what he looked like as he burst out of the fire. He could see the air around him crackling, bending. His body was made out of the void, a black and violet wolf that looked as if he was made out of mist, always shifting. He wasn’t, but the void that made his body actively ate all Essence that came in contact with him. The air around him, the space, the gravity, everything that touched him started to disintegrate. The kreacean leveraged his will to escape, but it was too late. Ryun unleashed his Presence of the Eternal Hunter aura and let his charged {Staggered End} out. It hit the kreacean near point blank range, his body dissolved, disintegrated by the Void. The fire that trailed behind him, trying to engulf him was eaten next by the following waves. The attacks of the other two remaining enemies were destroyed by Ryun’s fruit technique.
With another moment of respite, he let his second prepared technique out. His {Avatar of the Reaper} formed next to him, a copy of his evolved form. He had wondered about that, he didn’t get the chance to test it. His mind split, and for a moment there he felt… something, inside of his copy. Almost like…
He moved, as fire came for him again. His avatar and him running in different directions. Shaping steps beneath their paws as they ran through the air. Ryun turned his head and opened his maw. A {Void Beam}, as thick as a tree trunk, cut through the air at the demasi caster. He burst into flames as void pierced him, then reformed in the distance. Ryun followed with his beam, forcing the man to run again.
The drake beat his wings, swinging his axe for Ryun’s head. His avatar intercepted him, forced him to switch targets. He swung his axe and cleaved through the beam that the avatar fired at him. Ryun didn’t have the time to be surprised. Bolts of fire were coming his way from all around him, and he was forced to stop his attack. He kept two techniques active, his mantle—keeping his wisdom boosted as far as he could—and his {Void Shaping} so that he could constantly shape steps beneath his paws.
His avatar occupied the drake’s attention, so Ryun focused on the caster. With an [Inevitable Step] he closed the distance. The demasi’s eyes widened as a giant wolf appeared next to him. Ryun swiped with his claws, using |Perfect Cut: My Foes, Torn Asunder|. A shining barrier stopped his attack but cracked under his assault. Ryun surged forward, before the man could react, his stats bolstered by what he stole and his enemies lowered. Fire surged forward from his staff, but Ryun leveraged his will, lessening the impact of the fire’s special damage on his body. He opened his maw, fire burning through him, and snapped his jaws shut. Flesh parted, bones cracked, and a man died. He focused and changed his mantle to vitality again to heal the minor damage. The void in his mouth dissolved the parts of the body in it, while the rest fell to the ground.
On the other side of the room, his avatar burst apart as the drake cut the copy’s head off.
Ryun stood in the air, all four legs on steps, his knees bent and ready to move.
The drake looked at him, his eyes holding a storm of emotion. He burst across the distance, swinging his axe. Ryun leapt to the side with |Pouncing Rush| and opened his mouth to unleash another {Void Beam}.
And then his mind was assaulted by pain. He winced, and the drake took advantage, he buried his axe in Ryun’s side. A shockwave burst from it, shaking his body. But none of that mattered, he reached through his mind, through the link that had filled his mind with pain.
“Selia?” he spoke. He felt her pain lessen, then turned to anger. And he relaxed.
“We were ambushed,” he heard her say, faintly, ineptly. She didn’t know how to use their link properly. He had made a mistake when he had kept his side so closed off. He realized that now. He felt the axe get wrenched from his body and something smash him into the side, sending him tumbling through the air. He ignored that for the moment.
“I was too,” Ryun said. “Fight well.”
With that he pushed his mind back to the matter at hand, neither of them could afford to be distracted now. He hit the ground, the drake followed close behind, his axe ready for the killing blow. Ryun burned through his Qi to regenerate the wounds the drake inflicted and then shape a technique as he approached. With his usually quick technique speed and the boosted speed from his Evolved Form he formed a {Staggered End} and let it out before the drake reached him. The drake pulled his axe back, defending. His armor lost its top layer from the first wave. He beat his wings, getting back out of range of the those that followed. Ryun was surprised that he was that strong, but he didn’t give him the time to recover. He shaped steps and ran at him. In his evolved form he was faster, both because of his stats and just because of the wolf form. He caught up and opened his maw. A {Void Beam} hit the drake point blank, and he saw his armor give out. The drake’s body started to get disintegrated, but he obviously had some defensive perks that lessened Ryun’s power and probably high endurance.
In the end it didn’t matter, Ryun shaped a wall behind him, and the drake collided with it, allowing Ryun to reach him. Wolf Claws, reinforced his own with blood red crystal, and finished what his beam started. He raked the drake’s stomach open, then sent another {Void Beam} at him point blank, ending the fight.
His core nearly empty, he landed on the ground and let his evolved form go. Then, quickly he walked out of the dungeon, his mind focused on the link he shared with Selia that radiated anger.